AN: I like this chapter.  Hope ya'll do too. :)

inspiredthoughts@hotmail.com



********************** Curiosity Killed... Chapter Twenty-Two **************************



"Yes, she's much better, fine...  I know.  I KNOW!"  Okay, Kevin is all mad and grumpy and 
I haven't even been awake long.  I crack open an eye crankily.  I see, on the phone again.  
I bet I know with whom too.  

"Give."  I croak the command as I stretch out my hand.  Kevin jumps and glares at me but 
seems relieved.  "Let me talk," I growl as he hesitates.  Mr. Dumb Pants sighs but walks 
over to me and places the cell phone gently in my hands.  

I roll my eyes and stick my tongue out at him.  A small grin stretches my chapped lips as 
Kevin frowns.  The phone is warm when I put it to my ear.  

"Pet?"  I shiver as Dracula's darkness rolls over me like velvet, and molasses, and hot 
summer nights where you sweat and dance under the stars and never miss the sun.  "I can hear 
you breathing..." he whispers and I can almost feel his cool pale hands tracing lines of 
fire down my body.  "I miss your breath warming my skin.  I miss the curve of your cheek 
and the soft fall of your lashes."

"Behave!" I scold firmly enough, though wary beneath my bravado.  I haven't forgotten his 
anger.  Or his pain.  

Dracula laughs, richly amused by my calculated impertinence.  "Oh child, must you tempt 
death so frequently?"  

I sigh and gather my words.  It hurts to speak to him, hurts to think of the words I need 
to please and nurture.  Dracula is a difficult Lord, but he has saved my life more times 
than I ever realized I risked it.  "Death, life, hope, and despair, they like to dance in 
their ballet and I'm always in the front row opening night."  

"Pretty words pet.  Do you throw roses at their feet?"

"I throw lilies.  White lilies."  

Dracula laughs again and I sense that the crisis has passed.  "Well done dove, well done.  
Have the children kissed you yet?  Have you let them press their lips to yours and taste 
the mortality forever denied them?"  

Or not.  Hello dangerous topics.  Kevin sits down heavily on the bed and squeezes my knee 
in a grip of iron.  I pinch his hand hard enough to bruise as I glower.  I know WAY more 
about handling the Lord of Darkness than Kevin Richardson ever will, even if he does 
survive, thank you VERY much.

"I have done nothing my Lord.  This is a game of Vampire.  I am merely a pawn to be moved 
and manipulated."

"Have they kissed you Catherine?"  The question, though coolly asked, holds the promise of 
death.  

I remember Howie's first kisses with their warmth, and Nick's with his absent eagerness, 
and AJ's with their swift seduction.  I remember Kevin's kisses lighting my soul and the 
heat they spread in their wake.  

I wince but I cannot lie.  Not to him.  "Yes," I whisper.  

"Have they held you?  Have they learned the lines of your body and the scent of your hair?"  

I remember being held at night, cradled against the breadth of Kevin's chest.  I remember 
him hesitating over the memory of the hurt I have endured and the clumsy offerings of peace 
and friendship.  

"They have offered me comfort to ease my distress," I reply carefully.  Kevin stills beside 
me, his hand resting quietly on my knee now as he listens.  

"Have they held you Catherine?  Have they yearned as I have yearned for two years?"  

I remember Kevin in leather pants and his large hands resting like a promise against the 
slim curves of my hips in his dressing room after that first show.

"Yes," comes my strangled acknowledgment.

"Do you wonder what it would be like to be loved by them?"  

I think of Howie and the curls in his hair, Nick playing Play Station, of AJ singing to me, 
and of Brian with his wide, easy smile and full laugh.  I think of Kevin and the darkness 
that calls to the broken places in my soul.  

I wipe away tears that have gathered unnoticed in my eyes.  My voice trembles as I answer, 
"There is no love possible here.  Not in the way you ask."  

"Not in the way you hope," Dracula replies gently, though there's triumph in his 
proclamation.    "I never would have guessed them to be such fools.  Or you pet.  For all 
your stupidity you have never been a fool or a true pawn before.  That may save you in the 
end."  He sighs like death, suddenly weary.  "Go, play with your toys.  It pleases me to 
know that you will return to me."

I flinch as Kevin's grip tightens suddenly.  He won't be the only one with new bruises 
tomorrow.  I ignore him because I can't afford to ignore Dracula.  "May I ask you something 
without consequence?"  

There's a pause from the other end of the phone and I know I've caught my Lord off guard.  
He seems amused by that because his voice is benevolent as he graciously grants me 
permission.  "You may."

"Do you miss the sun?" I blurt out suddenly.  

This time the pause is longer and I shudder with its possibilities.  The problem with 
asking immortals questions is that their answers aren't always reassuring.  Sometimes 
it's nice to believe humanity's lies.  

"Shadows do not miss the light," he finally responds stiffly, formally, and I know that 
I've touched something I shouldn't have with my words.  I can't leave it though; anyone 
else would, but anyone else would have been killed a hundred times over by the Lord of 
Darkness.    

Dracula is not the only one who can draw blood.

"But they can't exist without it.  Otherwise it would simply be darkness."  

"Very good pet.  You have your answers- all of them- now rest.  If you die I shall be most 
displeased."

And then there's a dial tone.  

I hand Kevin the phone with shaking hands.  He takes it gravely but I can see the questions 
bleeding his eyes black.  He settles instead for a simple declarative sentence.  "You're 
not going back to him."

I stare up at him, at this man, this Vampire, who is so vulnerable despite his strength.  
At this bloodsucker who understands so little but knows so much.  I feel old.  Lydia 
should have killed them.  It would have been a mercy because existing in this world of 
Councils and true death- that is a cruelty.

My brown gaze softens.  "That isn't my choice."  

In his agitation, Kevin's fangs extend until they gleam ivory.  His direct stare has become 
obsidian and strong fingers reach out to hold my chin in a grip of steel.  "That's because 
I'm not giving you one."  He leans forward suddenly and kisses me, fangs and all, and god 
its as good as I remember, better.  There's an edge of desperation, of wildness, of fierce, 
hungry possession that makes his darkness, his allure, his temptation that much more real.  

That harder to resist.  

I whimper against the onslaught and he breaks the kiss, leaving me wanting and hating all 
at the same time.  He waits until he catches my wide eyes before whispering forcefully, 
"You belong here, to us."  

I smile crookedly shake my head slowly.  Kevin is beginning to act like a Vampire, even if 
he still doesn't understand what that really means.  Although his pig headed stubbornness 
could very well a personality trait.  It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.  

"I would like a drink of water I think."  

Kevin blinks, and blinks some more, and suddenly his eyes are brightly green again and his 
fangs are retracted.  "Oh.  You're right."  He starts to rise and I grab his hand, 
startling us both.  "Yes?"  

"Next time I'm lying near death, just kill me and skip the call to Dracula, all right?"  

He laughs roughly and goes to fetch me water, obedient boy that he is, only, I can tell he 
thinks I'm kidding.  I'm not.  I'm seriously starting to dislike phone conversations with 
Dracula and they way they tend to end.  With me frightened.  Or threatened, or sometimes, 
it's a two for one deal.  

Dammit, now I'm hungry too.